5 Reasons Why You Should Play Samurai/SAM

[@GabrielTBP]

Last time I was this early Samurai still had Kaiten.

[@tobu-ka1779]

too soon

[@apukami3643]

I cry every day

[@StriderZessei]

Better off without it.

[@TheMinidow]

I feel blessed having only recently started playing, samurai without having even known this kaiten thing existed

[@504Trey]

Facts.. can't miss what u never had 💀

[@bluesrike]

I'm a post-Kaiten SAM too 👋

[@StriderZessei]

You aren't missing much.

[@thebeatts]

A big reason to play SAM (for me) is that it feels like a good canonical choice for the WoL and is very satisfying to play in the MSQ. SAM being the strongest melee dps feels right in line with everyone marveling at the WoL's remarkable strength. Also, aside from a couple other samurai you meet and befriend in stormblood, there isn't another SAM within the Scions proper, which helps your character stand out more among their companions, both visually and in terms of their abilities/martial prowess. Any solo duties you play as SAM feel good and realistic (you know, RPG-realistic) since those duels feel like fights a master of the blade could realistically win. (And the same could be said of some other jobs too, but SAM knocks it out of the park in this sense.)

[@Sebod95]

Totally agree! I recently completed endwalker and mained samurai (also leveled reaper to full and dragoon to 62 before i switched) And during the whole MSQ i was so happy that i chose a melee DPS and especially samurai because it just felt RIGHT. Sure other melee dps and tanks would probably also feel "right", but i cant imagine beeing a caster and doing the MSQ, it doesent feel right to me. (no hate on casters/ranged i play them aswell just not during the MSQ) Also, samurai glamour is the GOAT. SPOILERS AHEAD! DON'T CONTINUE READING IF YOU HAVENT COMPLETED ENDWALKER Just as an example, after defeating meteion (spelling?) and you fight Zenos I just cant see the WoL pulling out a book and start casting shit while he just whails on you with his big fuck of scythe lol. It might just be me that takes shit like that too serious, but thats the way i am.😅

[@shizachan8421]

White Mage WoL beating the Living Shit out of Zenos with their bare firsts Lyse being a dedicated Monk for all her life doing shit on him: Am I a Joke to you? Zenos being a little shit: Yes.

[@user-ko3sd9qj2h]

I miss MNK where I'd solo boss fights 😭😭 they really murked me when they took away all my cross class self heals

[@bluesrike]

We pretty much have the exact same reasons as to why we main SAM: 1. Big, fat, juicy damage. 2. No one else in the Scions took up Samurai so a Katana-wielding WoL stands out.

[@draygonsol7863]

Started exploring the other jobs more now after I hit "To Be Continued". Samurai always looked cool but it never seemed to stand out to me until I was in a dungeon with a particular good Samurai player and could see the impact he was having so I finally just went and tried it and I'm completely surprised by how much I'm enjoying it. The main thing I like is that you can actually feel the impact your doing with every hit combined with awesome visuals to back it up.

[@majin_duke]

I love the idea of a samurai. I’m just staring the game tonight and I’m going for SAM

[@XMarksEden]

How do you like the game so far? Did you reach samurai yet? 😊

[@jess_o]

I am addicted to collecting cool Katanas. I've started with the Primal ones

[@astroloco6581]

As a SAM main I’m trying to tough it out without kaiten but it’s not feeling the same. It’s my favorite job but now I’m lost lol 😂

[@nickshafer9835]

No group support you say? Samurai deals out the best status effect, and that is dead.

[@akiramurakami3177]

Why need ultility while the best ultility is dead

[@celphalonred1999]

Rip sam

[@bluesrike]

Or as I like to call it "Big, fat deeps"

[@vizzyMcExee]

Was a DRG main, they broke my mirage dive so I mained RPR, PF steals all the rpr slots so I been trying out the other melees to find one that fits my playstyle and doesn't feel janky to play. For me that's sam. Personal shield every 15 secs and a 60 sec dot so im not panicking to refresh feels great. Just gotta perfect it to get the numbers up

[@GARCIIIAmonster]

when i was at griessmühle berlin i saw someone summon an esper. i don't say that an esper appeared, but i tell you this guy was summoning something with his dancemoves.

[@H0m3yB97]

My main job and my WoL's canon job in her story. Kaiten being gone does sadden me but I still love the job. I will continue to play it as my main for that fact alone since it is still one of the most satisfying jobs for me, despite enjoying most jobs in the game.

[@rinklestein6646]

Since the Samurai update I’ve been in an absolute lull with FFXIV, I loved optimizing the job and the direction they’ve taken it has convinced me it got to where it was previously by mistake. The designer just doesn’t know what they’re doing with the job. They could have implemented any other number of changes like merging Shoha 1 & 2, making Ikishoten turn into Ogi Namikiri, or have Senei and Guren replace Shinten and Kyuten when Ikishoten is used (removing 2 buttons and the drift between the abilities, similar to warriors Inner Chaos interactions) The fact that none of this which are just positive QOL changes were implemented and they went for a scorched earth approach of removing the one thing that bridges the gap between your Sen and Kenki is baffling. Genuinely, the designer DOES NOT play the job.

[@kamacitemoon2710]

Which anime is shown at 3:57? Cause it looks really smooth and cool.

[@doctordepression3278]

Sword of the Stranger. it's pretty good. :D

[@Funkloving]

Never played samurai myself as I’m rather new to the game, I was thinking of picking samurai up anyway with this change everyone seems upset with, is it still worth it to someone that has never played with the ability?

[@Igor-dm2bw]

Samurai is easy to learn dont worry

[@VallThyo]

Only people who knew/used Kaiten will miss it - was very iconic. If you're starting SAM now still a fun class and you won't feel the loss of Kaiten, meaning you're likely to have more fun with it than any old SAM main atm.

[@matthewduplantis2011]

I played SAM in Heavensward and didn't touch it again until recently. Maybe it's because I never really had the chance to use Keiten, but I love SAM! It feels straightforward and I can just focus on putting up big numbers. It suits my playstyle

[@StarRailingYourMum]

I still enjoy Samurai without Kaiten. It does suck sometimes remembering that Kaiten was taken from us though... But I'm learning to live with it... Spamming Shinten IS annoying though.

[@KainH93]

I've been enjoying all jobs recently and Sam feels great but I'm still a monk lover Nothing feels better than the fast gcd spam I can get with it

[@poweruppikawho9007]

I leveled SAM to 80 in Shadowbringers and dropped it pretty quickly. I haven't touched it since 2020. Maybe this is just because I was a sprout at the time, but I couldn't handle everything SAM was asking me to do. I decided to check it out tonight on a whim and now the lvl 80 rotation feels buttery smooth. Whether this is because I'm now a more experienced player or because I don't have to worry about Kaiten, who can say?

[@apukami3643]

Still my main job for hard content. My reflexes ain't that good so not constantly being in a burst window makes me dodge mechanics easier.

[@bakacdaz]

I don’t get how people keep saying SAM is more easier than NIN. Both SAM and Dancer is super confusing for me while Ninja is super simple.

[@StarShadow9009]

Ninja is not more complex, it just is more executionally more demanding since it has a higher apm. Most of the difficulty comes from its opener which sort of repeats itself every minute to 2 min. And some people feel like ninjutsus are hard to learn, which it isn't, and if we look at how many abilities each job has, Ninja has one of the highest numbers which can be hard to remember. All that said, i think Ninja's difficulty is very overblown

[@ZeroXIV]

Those statements come from endgame content in which it is a lot easier to fix a samurai's rotation and get back on track with the bosses timeline. Ninja simply has a harder time after making a mistake getting back on track due to the fact that they have a lot of timed cd's to keep track of that must be hit on cooldown every single time and any drift screws you over for the rest of the encounter. Samurai used to be a lot stricter last expansion which made it easy to get into and hard to master but the addition of meikyo giving you buffs and two charges as well as trimming of kaiten now just gave it an easy skill floor and ceiling. Neither class is hard to play strictly from a hitting your buttons standpoint, the difficulty comes from doing it repeatedly while mechanics are going on so any shift or interuption can more or less be freestyled on samurai where a ninja needs to plan around mechanics.

[@Bambi_maybe]

peoples brains work different

[@lordseano2343]

Fellow samurai here. SAM rocks, as long as u know the right order to your skills u throw down humbling amounts of dps, plus all your moves names sound like anime shows.

[@johnway8819]

You really gonna spam Kaiten in the background.... you really gonna do that to us... :(

[@kiptandoru]

Dude coming in hardddddd with the sword of the stranger scenes, great movie my man!

[@bluesrike]

"Samurai does not have a single tool to help their party" We do. It's called "Big Fat Deeps".

[@fleez6607]

Just started a few days ago, already lvl 42, aiming for samurai by tomorrow

[@MrBreadisawesome]

Its not a race man youre missing out on the story :’(

[@cyclonejd8189]

Sword of the Stranger is a great anime movie. Please go ahead and check it out.

[@Goujiki]

Not playing SAM till they give Kaiten back

[@dazzlemasseur]

First of my reason : Sam is a player, he plays with their hearts, so it's okay to play Sam.

[@SilverforceX]

It's crap now. The entire core loop was build resources, unleash huge spender with a double-charge up, Kaiten to buff it, and then unleash! Now its not a huge damage move anymore, and always crits loses the RNG burst of good feels when it crits (for much more dmg).

[@akiramurakami3177]

Your midare do more or less same dmg to your normal combo. It suck now

[@vilaland2024]

Alright that's it..., Samurai wait for me right there, I'm buying the game!

[@Thunder88]

To those disregarding those who 'lost their shit over a single ability' or that literally nothing has changed: Samurai players and their statics spent months gearing up a class that suddently lost all synergy with four common classes in SCH, DRG, DNC, and BRD. Not only does SAM's DPS suffers as a result but those classes as well if there is a SAM in the composition. The 6.1 changes were not for button bloat but to balance the class for the new Ultimate. However, these changes were rushed since now NIN does exactly what SAM used to fulfill in groups, except with higher burst in phases that require it. Not to mention the 'buffs' the class received in 6.11 were to combat a meme rotation in Yukikaze > Hagakure > Shinten spam doing similar numbers to their projected numbers after 6.1. Yeah, 'losing shit' over all that wasted time gearing a class and having to switch to another melee so as to not screw over their groups (and that paying customers essentially did not pay for) is well justified.

[@perksofvon]

A bit of a stretch, imo.

[@bluesrike]

I won't spoil the details, but the Lv 60 job quest feels like something out of Ghost of Tsushima or a Kurosawa movie.

[@leomata7096]

SENSEEEEEEEEEEEEI ;-;

[@MojigangaXBL]

The epic intro alone made me go start the quest. Didn’t need to hear anything else

[@yanewstepdad1355]

Running samurai as we speak, and almost out of Heavensward again. Love the class, can get a bit repetitive but thats any class and that damage is beautiful

[@TheUndertakerVII]

I actually left Sam right before the update and went back to long time main DRG and the difference is huge. You may not hit Sam numbers in one big burst but the constant burst is crazy and I don't regret leaving Sam. It's an okay simple class I like some level of difficulty

[@TheUndertakerVII]

@@StriderZessei ....maybe you misread

[@StriderZessei]

@@TheUndertakerVII my bad!

[@TheUndertakerVII]

@@StriderZessei it's coo

[@imapanda5475]

Move to reaper after kaiten removal. Feels better to me and animation is sick af

[@kunstlerischesetwas1284]

sadly true. I just hope they fix Samurai, cause i dont want it stay the way it is now.

[@tavernadodevilhunter6732]

Reaper is good?

[@kunstlerischesetwas1284]

@@tavernadodevilhunter6732 its really fun to play, so yes its Good

[@beckham3533]

@@tavernadodevilhunter6732 It doesnt get good until you hit level 80 with enshroud which then you feel like an absolute god. Wouldn’t recommend it on lower level synced dungeons for that reason as well

[@tavernadodevilhunter6732]

@@beckham3533 my principal runs is endwalker dungeons i love to test new skills

[@LuukMahjong]

I don't believe this world is ready to experience my virgin breathing technique tho.

[@khanom27]

While I do love MNK, I can not deny that I quite enjoy SAM every now and then when all my smooth brain simply want to do is just plain old dps

[@yanipheonu]

Honestly needs a bit of a rework now with the Kaiten removal. Kenki management is basically brain-dead and spamming Shinten is absolutely boring and inelegant, and before 6.1, I wouldn't call the job that. Seeing a rotation filled with Shinten spam breaks my heart. Not really a fan than they removed a key move and didn't do any other changes. Went from my absolute favourite Job in the game to taking a break from a while.😩 Give us more ways to spend Kenki now that there's one less way to spend it. maybe another charge of our larger spenders, or rework Shinten into something more interesting. Or, y'know, put Kaiten back in. I'll take anything.

[@kunstlerischesetwas1284]

Speaking from my soul. I do also take a break from Samurai until SE dos something to fix it

[@jesusdiaz4305]

I second this opinion. So much. 😣 I remember that one of the things that attracted me to the Samurai class in FF14 was the fact that your character was constantly moving their blade around during your OGCD actions through Kaiten use. Visual moments like what is shown at the 6:06 timestamp happened naturally, and we got to keep swift attack combos; manually inputting those *swish swish* sword twirls is what identified the class’ combat. Post-6.1 Samurai basically shunted those sword twirls into Ikishoten, and we barely get to see those twirls thanks to the long cooldown and to the sword spinning getting overshadowed by the big & flashy AOE attack. What with all the shinten spam I occasionally find myself thinking that the Samurai currently looks like an off-brand Red Mage, and that hurts because because the only remaining visual thing that differentiates the Samurai from the other blade classes is the Iaijutsu. There’s literally nothing else that makes the Samurai appealing that the other dps can’t also do.

[@Junebug89]

Return Kaiten!

[@celphalonred1999]

Ha Fukkk Kaiten!

[@SuperPotato316]

SAM main since Stormblood. By far my favourite job. Oh and f*ck the party, it's all about selfish damage :D

[@MB-go6uy]

thats how I feel about my black mage lol

[@ltitou4674]

1 one reason why should NOT play samurai : 6.1 kaiten removal

[@JS-kr8fs]

We just get to suffer the constant pressure to always perform 99% percentile, or some other job with raid utility is rapidly approaching as our replacement.

[@LaryIsland]

What's the name of the show at 3:57?

[@doctordepression3278]

an animated movie called Sword of the Stranger.

[@BlackSkullArmor]

Can't twirl my weeb sword like I know what I'm doing anymore. Literally unplayable Yoshi pls fix

[@Justuas]

no more reasons thanks to 6.1

[@_drifter_6591]

In b4 the guy who saw someone summon Bahamut shows up.

[@3bladex]

King of jobs

[@Patrax_]

im a samurai main since 2019 if im correct as soon as i became lvl i think 50 was the requirement with blm im happy with samurai and I WILL NEVER PLAY ANY OTHER JOB AS MUCH AS SAMURAI (over 6 mio gil spend for glamour and 8 glamour plates only samurai) XDDD

[@celphalonred1999]

.... What in the goddamn fuk

[@kinggstergaming4136]

What anime is that playing 😅

[@kiretan8599]

Kaiten left me like how my dad left me.

[@erichmahnke5806]

What’s the chest piece at 7:15 called?

[@bocatt9202]

The only place I play SAM is Crystalline Conflict.

[@lt2064]

Talk about Hyperbole. Kaiten being gone doesnt mean Sam has no rotation, come on. Id also say Reaper is easier and Sam is far from the simplest dps of all DPs classes. Summoner, red mage, Reaper.

[@azazamat]

This is a pretty basic overview in my opinion. I mean, if expert roulette and an occasional alliance raid are the pinnacle of your endgame and if you easily get lost in three mudras, then yes, NIN is more complex than SAM. Otherwise, SAM has a much higher skill ceiling than any other dps job, with the exception of MNK and maybe BLM. There is so much to optimize while playing around boss mechanics (savage+).

[@Felinaxo]

Missed the opportunity to say 4 reasons to play samurai, Kaiten would have been the 5th

[@DesperiusFFXIV]

Sorry 😅

[@themissingpeace7956]

Bring back kaiten or I won't play samurai. Simple as that. It was literally my favorite job in ShB but without kaiten it's like it's missing its heart. Why are they trying to simplify the game just for new players when it's the complexity that makes it enjoyable? :(

[@tavernadodevilhunter6732]

We need more sengoku armor on this game..

[@VallThyo]

Shinten Bar... I mean, Kenki bar is really boring now that you only use for Shinten.

[@Raionhardt]

I'm not kaitenless, I'm gyoten-pilled. My party utility is no enrage and skipped mechanics. I feel like nobody talks about how strong samurai's mobility is and how you can move out of melee range with optimal DPS easier than any other melee job. I also think that +third eye makes sam one of the best melee for prog aside from monk having riddle of earth and mantra. MNK needs a thunderclap partner, reaper also has great ranged uptime, but sometimes the 15 yalm limit on portals can hurt you. Ninja can use raiton at range, but if it's at the wrong time you can ruin your 2min windows and are left with using throwing daggers or drifting the mudra. 6 yalm iaijutsu and enhanced enpi are so strong

[@minkim002]

Dragoon next please!

[@ofanichan]

Im just playing Samurai because tI dont like the changes they made on Monk. And Samurai feel like the closest to it.

[@jaysanj152]

SAM feels...weird and weak to play now without Kaiten tbh. Like i am not saying the job itself is bad or anything,It's still on par with Reaper and MNK respectfully when it comes to dishing out some meaty dps. it's just feels lacking out of nowhere for no reason,like is it the fun factor or the power fantasy..I can't my finger into it. Also I still dislike the reason for removing Kaiten,Button bloat. Yea,you wanna see Button bloat ? Have a good look at Paladin's moveset... I am sticking with RPR for now,It may be the simplest class but it's one of the most fun class i've ever tired and it proved that you don't need mental gymnastics to dish out some dmg...Looking at you MNK.

[@MrBreadisawesome]

Damn you didnt have to come at MNK like that

[@mikokun7714]

Reallyyyy no comment on Nioh ??? Nanii

[@Wanderingsage7]

You'd think there would be a frontal positional.

[@glitchedm0bst3r]

Not when boss cleave is a thing.

[@suzukieparadox3469]

I miss my kaiten :(

[@armandojaime4267]

Please yoshi p, dont mess this up in 7.0

[@KalosKitsune]

Does the samurai hit the enemy with their swords sheath in that one skill 😆

[@Junebug89]

If you mean Higanbana, you take your sword partway out of the scabbard and some energy shoots off it to DoT the foe. I am not sure if the implication is just that you're whacking them with the base of your sword hilt, or if it's supposed to be energy built up in the blade somehow.

[@SemperVII]

@@Junebug89 I think he's talking about Senei, and yes, you do hit them with your scabbard and your blade

[@SpyroDraconem]

Honestly I don't even remember what Kaiten used to do.

[@john-perrybentley2649]

Ok Hans

[@arkhamknightex6929]

Used to stuggle to pick which melee dps I wanted to use before they removed kaiten, now? I go straight for SAM when I wanna go melee DPS. Kaiten might have looked cool but it was just redundant having to press it before every iaijutsu. If u guys wanna complain so much just ask the devs to go input the animation of kaiten into the iaijutsu charge animation.

[@Junebug89]

I don't want just the animation, I want to press it. The input was part of the feel. It also wasn't "redundant" because it meant you had to plan your kenki usage around always having enough for your Iaijutsus. Now you just spam Shinten or Kyuten without worrying about banking it at all. Ikishoten will cover Senei or Guren whenever they are up, so resource management doesn't really exist any more. It's cool you like it more now I guess, but a *lot* of people who already loved samurai feel it has lost something special.

[@UndercoverCracker]

I AGREE

[@UndercoverCracker]

@@Junebug89 it really hasn't though 😆

[@Iceteafire2914]

You know, pooling kenki for the burst is probably a dps gain, something worth doing. So resource management is still a thing I would say. Is it easier? Yah. But why would that be bad? In contrast to what the majority of people say here, samurai even now is not easier than ninja. You have a debuff to keep up, you have an complex enough opener, maybe the opener slightly easier than ninja but not that far from it, you would say its brainded to keep buffs now, but you actually need to track them in case of downtime I love that change it made me confident in trying sam, also rotation positionals are while maybe more flexible, more harder on sam than ninja, more buttons needed for the basic combo, more buttons needed in general. Very lackluster when you desingage and run out of boss hitbox, ninja literally has Phantom kamitachi, raiton, chen-chi-jin, the new thing you get at 90 which has a version with gap closing, shuchichi feels amazing and less restrictive. I literally played ninja in ex4 on ranged spot, we were 3 melees, I didnt care. Its mostly phase 1 stuff, but you get so many tools. For sam you basically have to use one of your filler combo gcd for a disengage(ability not gcd) + a ranged attack, and you need to plan around that, otherwise you fk your burst and tachibana and other stuffs. Not to even take in account boss downtime. Its just wierd to see people looking at ninja as a harder class, even now.

[@geras8724]

that chin chin sound effect gets to me quickly. wish the sounds were better.

[@CmonstahxD]

Reaper , redmage, and dancer r probably the easiest classes in game . Id say sam is more mid level.

[@riceshot9981]

Tatakae.

[@enyrtovsen3174]

Only Samurai was a real job people could have... Bards, Warriors, Paladins, Ninjas, Monks, Sages, Scholars, and Dancers: are we a joke to you?

[@JayShifu]

2 main problems with samurai in FF14, too many ugly glamour, we need more ghost of Tsushima style armor in this game for Sam. Also half of the fighting animations don’t feel very “samurai-like”. I’d like to see a visual overhaul and more cosmetics for samurai in the future.

[@The_SixShooter]

Few are nice Sam glam I ve seen even I done glam'd my sam like blindman zatoichi, but yea not alot decent ones but creative ones.

[@kunstlerischesetwas1284]

And they really just removed Kaiten. Shinten is the least skill i would expect any Samurai to do, but still we now have to spam this eye cancer animation between every gcd

[@The_SixShooter]

Yup I stopped play Sam bec of kaiten removed, so I went to smn reaper brd and blm back n forth.

[@Lightfire398]

Yeah, there’s a reason my main SAM glam is the armour from the first set of Omega raids. Proper samurai armour.

[@gvr8018]

It's weeb. That's all reason you need to play.

[@Tailionis]

I didn't like the level 50 rotation so I didn't bother leveling it up. Ninja is funner

[@Elliriah]

Well, Hagakure suck so it's a no

[@StarShadow9009]

Hot take: Guage management is now more interesting and takes more thought since we don't have 20 guage constantly being eaten every time you use a iaijutsu. Now we have way more guage which we have to use consciously by putting in stabby stab in your rotation where you think it will be most efficient more often.

[@yanipheonu]

Counter take: there were ways to do this without it just being One Move Spammed Over and Over. I see no reason to be satisfied that SAM's entire gauge is pressing one button most of the time. Give us new spenders. Give us alternate ways to spend Kenki. Maybe rework Shinten to be more exciting and less repetitive. There were better options they just didn't use.

[@kunstlerischesetwas1284]

It seems you dont understand the meaning of "Managment". You literally manage nothing now on the Kenki gauge. It went from one of the most interesting gauges to one of the worst gauges in the game.

[@StarShadow9009]

@@kunstlerischesetwas1284 okay let's be real, what did you have to manage previously? It is literally the same except that instead of being able to stabby stab at 25, you started stabbing at 45. That was literally the only difference. Other than that it gave you something to prepare before you used iaijutsu. Which take it out leave it, i personally didn't care for it but some other people liked it. But that wasn't a guage thing. You could literally disconnect kaiten from the guage and you wouldn't have to change the decision making at all.

[@Junebug89]

@@StarShadow9009 You could stabby stab at 25 before, as long as you knew you would have enough kenki before your next Iaijutsu. That's kenki management. You may argue that's not much, but you said it takes more management and thought now when it literally takes the complete opposite. What thought did the change add to kenki management?

[@StarShadow9009]

@@Junebug89 sure I'll give you that you could do that and that might be the optimal thing if you can squeeze in another stabby stab into buff window. But now since you don't have the passive kenki eater, you have to stab more and stabbing takes more thought to use than kaiten. Kaiten, you just press it before iaijutsu but for stabby stab you need to think about where you are in your rotation and see if you have enough time to slot it in or you do some minor planning of your rotation on the spot. I would say this requires more thought than kaiten and you have to do more of it now. At the end of the day, kaiten and stab were both ogcds that gave you sone damage. One was just more flexible than the other and let you stabby stab. If you feel like you miss kaiten, have you tried using stab in places where you used kaiten?

[@EmberwindTale]

You can tell when somebody has nothing going for them in life when they lose their shit over the removal of a single ability on a video game. This world is fucked. lol

[@imbawling]

Kaiten was the only thing that gave sam skill expression, barely. Rip kaiten 🫡